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Can Someone Afford To Go To Trial In A DUI Case?

What we charge for a trial depends on the case. I don’t quote a client an exact trial fee before we make the decision to go to trial. A client makes the decision to go to trial. I need to see the evidence and know exactly what we are dealing with before being able to give a responsible trial quote, so we don’t charge for a jury trial upfront. Some attorneys do and they say, “Yes, this amount is going to include trial” and unless it’s a very large amount, that attorney is probably not looking to take your case to a jury trial. Asking them about their experiences in jury trials may be a very good idea at that point.

What Are The Important Things To Know In Preparation For A DUI Trial?

We have a list that we usually give clients about how to act in a trial. It’s very important that if possible, we want the jury to like our client, be able to relate to our clients because they are judging out client. So we want the client to obviously dress nice, not make faces, especially if someone says something in the witness stand that upsets them, not to say anything out loud obviously but to be on time to listen to us to work hard and preparing with us, preparing for them to testify. Knowing how to answer questions if they are testifying, they are the cross-examination questions from the prosecutor, I mean how to be polite and not say things in a way that make them look bad, make the client look bad.

I’ve seen it go different ways in jury trials with different clients, some just don’t come across very well and most people you can work with them so that they do answer questions properly so that the jury is not going to hold it against them but it’s important that the client who’s going to be sitting next to the lawyer throughout the whole trial appear to be someone that the jury wants to make a decision for, make a good decision for. There are a lot of different things, I’m not going to go into all of the details right now but someone who is going to go through a jury trial needs to be feeling good, get a lot of sleep, hydrate and just present well.

How Does Your Personality And Your Style Help Your Clients In A DUI Trial?

I’ve got the experience. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’ve done plenty of jury trial. I think the way I relate to people, I don’t talk down to people, not using a lot of legalese, it makes jurors roll their eyes and go “Oh my God, this attorney is just ridiculous”. I talk to people, I look in them in the eye. People relate well to me. Most people who see me representing my clients, like listening to me and I’m someone who I want the jurors to think is up there, fighting for my client just like I would fight for that juror if they were my client, showing them that I care about my client and that I care about the case, that I care about the system.

I let the jurors know that we appreciate them taking time from work and family and vacation or whatever they’re missing out on to be doing their duty to be jurors and so I want people to feel comfortable, I don’t want them to feel intimidated, I want them to feel that it’s their courtroom, they are part of this society and this is our system of justice and I think it’s important that they feel that way.

Someone who is just going to go in there and plead you guilty might as well go and deal it yourself. You got to have someone who is going to evaluate your case and fight for you. That’s critical. It’s so important because DUI cases are expensive and the reason that they are expensive is because you hire a good lawyer who is going to work harder on your case and fight for you and not just go and plead you guilty; they are going to file motions. If your case goes to trial, they are going to take your case to trial.

Most importantly, as they are fighting for you, they are going to educate you and make you understand what the best decision for you is, or help you make the decision on what’s best for you so that when you walk away from this case, whether they got the case dismissed or charges reduced or whether you got convicted of what you’re charged with, or whether you went to a jury trial, you’re going to know that you made the right decision or you made the best decision at that time for you and you’re not going to look back and go, “Oh I made a bad decision, I wish I hired a lawyer”, or, “I wish I hired a lawyer who fought harder for me”.

It’s really important that we understand the consequences of a DUI conviction and for most people, it’s imperative that they need to get the best attorney they can afford.

For more information on Affording A DUI Trial In California, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (415) 523-7878 today.